An analysis of RMNCH data quality on technological applications and methods to improve it

Abstract Background Health information management systems (HIMS) are used by most countries to record data on the coverage of reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health services (RMNCH). The HIMS in India manually collects data from primary health care facilities. Low and middle income countries (LMIC) are shifting to technological applications (apps) to improve reporting and real time tracking of RMNCH services. This study found high disparity of data between different sources. Yet governments and other stakeholders continue to use poorly reported data for daily monitoring, review and decision making. This study shares insight on the high degree of data variation, and proposes process and policy changes to improve it. Methods To quantify the extent of data variation, critical RMNCH indicators from apps and HIMS are compared for a given geography and time period. Workshops with the primary health workers and their supervisors were conducted to understand the challenges in reporting, based on which solutions to improve the efficiency of apps are proposed. Results Preliminary analysis in the state of Madhya Pradesh shows, in the year 2020-2021 live births, neonatal deaths and Infant deaths were 93%, 91% and 71% less respectively on apps as compared to HIMS. Major challenges of reporting on technological applications by primary health workers low internet penetration at 31% in Madhya Pradesh Lack of mechanisms to ensure user friendly and glitch-free apps Poor capacity to understand public health indicators and application generated reports Conclusions Online data quality must be governed by policies that focus on implementing mechanisms to analyze and validate data from different sources and remove blockages to quality reporting. Online public health reports need to be demystified by building capacities of primary health workers and their supervisors to use data to reflect on their performance and plan for improvement. Key messages Poor online data will impact real time action to ensure coverage and accountability for low performance. Investing in user friendly efficient technology for RMNCH services with strong quality control mechanisms, is the priority for good decision making.


Background:
Health information management systems (HIMS) are used by most countries to record data on the coverage of reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health services (RMNCH). The HIMS in India manually collects data from primary health care facilities. Low and middle income countries (LMIC) are shifting to technological applications (apps) to improve reporting and real time tracking of RMNCH services. This study found high disparity of data between different sources. Yet governments and other stakeholders continue to use poorly reported data for daily monitoring, review and decision making. This study shares insight on the high degree of data variation, and proposes process and policy changes to improve it.

Methods:
To quantify the extent of data variation, critical RMNCH indicators from apps and HIMS are compared for a given geography and time period. Workshops with the primary health workers and their supervisors were conducted to understand the challenges in reporting, based on which solutions to improve the efficiency of apps are proposed. Results: Preliminary analysis in the state of Madhya Pradesh shows, in the year 2020-2021 live births, neonatal deaths and Infant deaths were 93%, 91% and 71% less respectively on apps as compared to HIMS. Major challenges of reporting on technological applications by primary health workers low internet penetration at 31% in Madhya Pradesh Lack of mechanisms to ensure user friendly and glitch-free apps Poor capacity to understand public health indicators and application generated reports

Conclusions:
Online data quality must be governed by policies that focus on implementing mechanisms to analyze and validate data from different sources and remove blockages to quality reporting. Online public health reports need to be demystified by building capacities of primary health workers and their supervisors to use data to reflect on their performance and plan for improvement. Key messages: Poor online data will impact real time action to ensure coverage and accountability for low performance. Investing in user friendly efficient technology for RMNCH services with strong quality control mechanisms, is the priority for good decision making.

Background:
Little is known about working years lost (WYL) due to work disability and unemployment by industrial sector. This information would help in directing interventions promoting healthy working careers, knowing that the sectors have been differently affected by economic fluctuations and other changes in the labour market. We examined trends in WYL in the general Finnish population and by industrial sector in the period after the 2008 financial crisis with a particular focus on different types of work disability.

Methods:
Utilising register data on the Finnish working-age population and the Sullivan method, we calculated expected WYL due to sickness absence, other temporary work disability, partial disability retirement, full disability retirement, unemployment and other reasons in years 2010, 2013 and 2016 for the general male and female populations and by industrial sector.

Results:
In 2010, a 30-year-old person was expected to have around two-and-a-half to three WYL due to full disability retirement and unemployment until reaching age 65, depending on gender and the reason. By 2016, WYL due to full disability retirement decreased to less than two years and that due to unemployment increased to around four years among both genders. WYL due to sickness absence, other temporary work disability, partial disability retirement and other reasons remained relatively stable. The total WYL increased between 2010 and 2016 particularly among women. The differences by industrial sector in WYL were attributable more to unemployment than to the different work disability statuses.

Conclusions:
After the financial crisis unemployment appears to have replaced disability retirement as the most important reason for WYL. Furthermore, as individuals with a defined industrial sector are initially employed, sectoral differences in WYL are not largely attributable to disability retirement, disability pensioners typically having been outside the labour market for a long time. Key messages: During economic downturns work disability may be increasingly disguised as unemployment, which should be iii394 European Journal of Public Health, Volume 32 Supplement 3, 2022